Tweek
Tweek woke up to the sound of another heart beating against his cheek. Which was wrong, because he'd been sitting in Bebe's spare bed last he could remember, and besides, when did he actually go to sleep? And why was he outside? Why couldn't he move? Where did this weight on his chest come from? Wait, what the hell was going on?
Attempting to jerk upright, the blond let out a groan as the thing that was covering shifted and creaked unnervingly. There was definitely something preventing him from moving, which was what made Tweek start to panic. Frightened, the boy struggled harder, pushing against the cool metal thing that had him pinned down. Oh god, what's happening to me? Where am I, how did I get here!? Forcefully shoving the thing off of his chest, Tweek fought to open his eyes and finally succeeded, not that it did him much good.
There was smoke everywhere, that and horrible glowing green. Coughing and twitching, Tweek pushed the hunk of contorted metal away from him and looked around, trying to orient himself. As stuff started to fall back into place, insofar as things could when Tweek had no idea what was going on, the blond became increasingly more aware of the fact that he was on top of something, and that something was soft and definitely human.
With eyes that watered because of the particulates in the air, Tweek looked down, and felt his entire body jolt in fear as he realize who he was looking at.
Craig was unconscious, his mouth hanging open slightly and his body contorted into a position that looked wrong. As if that weren't enough, the boy's forehead was covered in blood, which seemed to be flowing from a gash below his hairline. Craig?! Tweek shook harder as he struggled upright and tried to move backward. WHAT HAPPENED TO US?!
Looking around, Tweek forced his stupid brain to cooperate and all too slowly, it started to come back to him. The aliens, the fights, the killing the pilots and then the crash. His last memory was of Craig tackling him and shielding him as they went down. Oh jesus, he got hurt! He's bleeding and it's because he was protecting me! What if he's dead! What if I accidentally killed him?!
"CRAIG!" Tweek shrieked, scrabbling at the Noirette's shoulders as he tried to pull the boy free from the wreckage. "OH GOD P-PLEASE WAKE UP!" At his screams, the boy's face screwed up and he started coughing, which made Tweek's heart leap into his throat before settling back down as relief washed through him. Unwilling to let go of the other boy, Tweek pulled Craig's arm a little more insistently, dislodging him somewhat from the twisted remains of the flying saucer's cockpit.
"Tweek?" Craig murmured, his voice sounding choppy and thick, like he was having trouble getting his mouth to work properly. After a moment, the boy opened his eyes, and Tweek couldn't even begin to stop himself from lunging forward and hugging Craig. Oh god he's alive, the blond thought, almost like he needed to cement it in his own head.Craig's alive, we're both alive. As if his own thoughts had followed down a similar path, Craig muttered, "You're alright."
"Ngh- y-yes, I'm fine," Tweek pushed out, struggling to control his own shaking. "I'm alright." He didn't feel alright, but Craig was okay, so things were going to get better. As long as they could get out of this unscathed, Tweek knew that everything would be fine.
Despite their situation, Craig still found time to run a tired hand through Tweek's hair. Though it probably shouldn't have, Tweek found himself laughing, one of those stupid high-pitched giggles that he couldn't control, because they'd just been abducted and survived crashing yet they still thought that this was the best use of their time. But it had been too long since he'd felt Craig show him genuine kindness like this, and Tweek had missed it.
Snorting softly himself, Craig struggled to sit upright, finally displacing Tweek, who yelped and hurried to help pull Craig free. The moment the Noirette was on his feet, he looked around and muttered, "Well Tweek, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Wait, what's that supposed to mean?! Were we in Kansas before? Where even is Kansas? I've never been there! WHAT IS CRAIG TALKING ABOUT?! Distressed, Tweek screeched and yanked on his hair, which earned him a confused look from Craig.
"WHY ARE YOU -RRR- TALKING ABOUT KANSAS?!" Tweek demanded, shaking and twitching.
Blinking at him, Craig shook his head and muttered, "Nevermind." Wrapping an arm around the confused blond, the taller boy looked around and coughed again. "Where do you think we landed?"
Well, not in Kansas, apparently. "I don't know man," Tweek answered, still tugging on his hair, but not as hard as before. Trying to see through the smoke and the greenish haze that seemed to be covering everything, Tweek muttered, "I just woke up! I h-haven't looked around or anything!" Stumbling forward, Tweek attempted to look for something recognizable only to almost run into what used to be the ceiling.
"JESUS!" he screeched, leaping backwards, almost pushing Craig over. "WE'RE -GHN- TRAPPED!"
Waving his arm about ineffectually, Craig turned to the side and said, "I mean, only technically." Looking in the way he was pointing, Tweek saw the smashed windows and felt stupid. Oh god, why does he put up with me, he probably thinks I'm so annoying. I think I'm so annoying, why does anyone even listen to me when all I do is say stupid things? "We should probably get out of here thought," Craig added, interrupting Tweek's train of thought. "Who knows if any of those fuckers are still alive."
Realizing he was talking about the aliens, Tweek let out a cry of fear and screamed, "OH GOD THAT'S TOO MUCH PRESSURE!" What if they follow us?! What if they try to capture us again!? What if they kill us?! WHAT IF THEY KILL CRAIG? Craig's hand landed in his hair, and Tweek couldn't help but reach up and grab it, clutching at it like it was his only lifeline. "Jesus man, I can't t-take anymore of these aliens!" he admitted, shaking harder.
"Honestly, I'm fucking sick of their shit too," Craig said, his voice already returning to its usual bland flatness. It calmed Tweek down, because if Craig wasn't fazed anymore then he shouldn't be either. How the Noirette had already gotten over the whole issue was beyond Tweek, but he supposed that if Craig could do it then he could too. "I just want to go to bed dude, I'm fucking tired."
Glancing up at him, Tweek was about to answer when he noticing the blood covering half of Craig's face again and screamed. "OH GOD, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Jerkily, the blond reached a hand for Craig's injury without thinking and yanked his hand back a second later. "Y-you're bleeding! What if you get a horrible -gha!- A horrible d-disease from one of the aliens?! What if you die!? OH GOD I COULDN'T HANDLE THAT!"
"Dude, it's just a scratch," Craig muttered, lifting a hand and touching the gash gingerly. "I'll be fine. Let's just get out of here." Before Tweek could argue, the Noirette was pulling him out towards the exit, his strides sure and confident, as if he did this kind of thing every day. Keeping a tight hold on the taller boy's hand, Tweek stumbled along behind him, his eyes going everywhere, just to make sure that no one was following them.
There were aliens. He was still trying to internalize this fact. There were legitimate aliens and they were green and tall and bug-eyed and terrifying and why couldn't they have just been his imagination? But they weren't and he now had to deal with that. Will anyone believe me when I tell them?! Do I tell them?! JESUS WHAT DO I DO? "OH GOD -NGH- EVERYONE'S GONNA TH-THINK WE'RE CRAZY!" Tweek screeched, pulling backwards on Craig's hand just as the boy was about to duck through the broken window.
Puzzled, Craig glanced back at Tweek and furrowed his brows slightly. "Dude, this is South Park," he pointed out, as if this explained pretty much everything. "If they react at all, I'll be shocked." Nothing shocked Craig, but Tweek sort of understood what he was trying to say. If people noticed, then they would, but they probably wouldn't and panicking wasn't going to help anything.
Allowing Craig to lead him out of the flying saucer, Tweek asked, "Rrr- d-do you think more aliens are g-gonna come after us?" Twitching violently at the thought, the blond quickly continued, "I mean, they wouldn't want anyone to know about this, s-so wouldn't they send something to kill us?! Jesus man, I'm only nine, I don't wanna die! I'm t-too young to die!"
"If they come after you, I'll stop them," Craig told Tweek calmly, navigating his way around odd puddles of green, glowing sludge. "Aliens are wimps dude, they're not that hard to stop." Even though Tweek wanted to disagree with Craig, just on the principle that they were aliens, he had to admit that the Noirette had a point. They hadn't been that hard to stop, and when push came to shove, he would have rather dealt with these aliens than the horrible creatures he'd created in his mind.
"Gha! I g-guess you're right," Tweek stuttered, shivering despite his words. "I just d-don't like them man! They're really scary!" Looking around at the wreckage, the blond added, "I mean, just look how dangerous they are!"
Craig snorted before reaching over and ruffling Tweek's hair in that way that he had that wasn't exactly calming and wasn't anything else that Tweek could name. "Not as dangerous as you, clearly." Feeling his face go weirdly hot at that, Tweek made a distressed screeching sound that he clenched his teeth around in an attempt to hold back. Shooting Tweek a sidelong glance, Craig suddenly reached a hand up as if going for the brim of a hat that wasn't presently there. Going a little red himself, making Tweek worry that he was already getting an infection from the cut on his forehead, Craig quickly turned his eyes back to where they were going.
"So," Craig said, in that way that meant he wanted to change the subject. "What did Bebe want?" At the mention of the boy's girlfriend, Tweek felt a number of confusing emotions run through him. A stupid flash of jealousy was the first one, but there were also a number of others, including reluctant hope.
Shuffling his feet slightly, scuffing at the gears and sprockets littering the ground, Tweek mumbled, "She w-wanted to talk about a lot of things. I don't know -rrr- why don't you ask her?"
For a moment, the Noirette didn't say a word, then he muttered, "Because I wanted to ask you." Oh, and there was that stupid little flicker of hope again. They're still dating, I shouldn't be thinking like this. Even if they are going to break up, it's not something I should be happy about! It's wrong, even if Bebe doesn't say that it is and Craig doesn't seem to care. Jesus, I should be a better friend.
Realizing that he'd left Craig waiting for an answer, Tweek squeaked before pushing out, "Ngh- W-we talked about weird things man, I dunno. She's a girl!" Shaking his head, Tweek mumbled, "B-but she said that she was getting tired of stuff and oh jesusIdon'tblameher!" While he stared at the ground in terrified silence, Tweek couldn't help but squeeze Craig's hand a little tighter, as though to reassure himself that the Noriette wasn't just going to leave.
"Ye p," Craig muttered, popping the 'p'. "We're both tired of it." Shaking his head, the boy muttered, "This whole thing has just been so stupid, I feel like I'm wading through shit nine times out of ten." Heh, he's not the only one. It was sort of good to know that he wasn't the only one, even though Tweek already knew that Craig didn't like the game. Hearing it again though felt nice.
Twitching, the boy let out a strangled sound that might have been a laugh before saying, "Jesus man, w-we just fought off aliens, and we're worried about a make believe game? What is wrong -rrr- with us?" Stepping over some more green glowing goo, Tweek looked up and peered through the smoke at South Park, which had finally decided to show up. The town was still asleep, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the residents honestly didn't care about an alien invasion. Not at this time of the morning at any rate.
"Well, I'd say we're both pretty fucked up," Craig told Tweek, before snorting. "Come on, let's get home. I'm tired dude." Allowing the Noirette to pull him along, Tweek scrambled after the boy, his eyes adjusting to the pre-dawn gloom. It was better once they were out of the smoke. If Tweek never had to smell that green goo again, he would be grateful. There was so much running around in his mind, but at that moment, he was somehow able to shove it all to the side and just enjoy the feeling of Craig's hand in his, the boy's long steps matching his own quick, short ones.
It didn't take them long to find familiar territory. Tweek didn't really think about the decision to pull Craig towards his house instead of the Noirettes. Well, at least my monsters got torn to shreds somewhat tonight. Maybe it'll be more peaceful? They needed peace, he needed peace. Craig needed something for his head, and Tweek would have killed for some coffee, so to his house they went. Craig didn't argue, and Tweek wondered why, before realizing that asking a question like that was stupid and discarding it.
Craig didn't even bat an eye at the whole thing until after they were in through Tweek's backdoor and Tweek was in his kitchen making coffee. It was only then that Craig spoke again. "We have school tomorrow." What? Do we? After the alien ship?! But to be fair this was South Park so why would they not?
"Y-yeah," Tweek muttered, shivering as he waited for the coffee to brew. Feeling Craig settle beside him, Tweek instinctively leaned, and was rewarded by the Noirette's arm coming around his shoulders and holding him there, secure. "What are we gonna tell Clyde and -rrr- Token?" He could only just imagine what Clyde would say if he heard about Tweek and Craig getting abducted by aliens. Token would probably just take it in stride, to be honest.
"Dunno," Craig answered, his voice as flat as ever. Watching Tweek as he pulled the finished pot of coffee over the counter to his thermos, the Noirette said, "Hey, do you think Jimmy will write a bardic song about it?"
At the idea of the boy singing about aliens and torture and weird guns that were shaped like dicks, Tweek shook his head rapidly, even though he was giggling. "Jesus man, that would be so weird!"
"Probably," Craig agreed, snorting as well.
As he finished making his coffee and sucked down a few sips, just to take the edge off of his nervous jittering, Tweek hurried towards his stairs, Craig in tow. They were quiet, which was a good thing considering it was somewhere around three in the morning, but Tweek knew full well that it didn't really matter, because his parents were too crazy to care that he'd been up anyhow.
Leaving Craig in his room, Tweek retrieved the medical kit that they kept in the bathroom before scurrying back to Craig, who was absently fiddling with the little lego model of Stripe that Tweek had been keeping beside his bed. As the blond stared at it, stared at Craig, and then gave a strangled sound as he lunged for his coffee, Craig finally looked up. "I wonder what would have happened if it had been someone other than you with me on the ship."
Eyes widening in horror at the thought, Tweek tugged at his hair with one hand while trying to keep a firm hold on his coffee with the other. "Oh god! That's too much pressure! What if they hadn't gotten you out?! What if you'd died?"
"Yeah," Craig agreed, putting down the model of Stripe before carefully closing his hands over Tweek's thermos, reminding the boy of what he'd originally set out to do. Quickly snapping to, Tweek got out some of the antibacterial wipes and attempted to clean some of the blood off of Craig's face. They said that head injuries always looked worse than they really were, and Tweek hoped so, because he wasn't sure what he'd do if Craig was seriously hurt.
"Imagine if I'd had Clyde with me," Craig muttered, watching Tweek as the boy dabbed at the cut carefully, not wanting to hurt him more. Thinking of the brunet with Craig, Tweek shook his head jerkily. "He'd have probably cried or something."
"Ghn- I CRIED!" Tweek yelped, before snapping his mouth shut and looking to his door in worry. After making sure that his parents weren't coming in, Tweek quickly went back to cleaning Craig's head injury. "W-what about Token? I bet he would have b-been way more useful!"
"Nah dude, he would have been too methodical about it. We'd have been there for a week." As Tweek finished cleaning the cut and started looking for the anti-bacterial cream, Craig muttered, "What if I'd been up there with Bebe." Tweek froze, and clenched his hands around the role of gauze that he'd just picked up. The boy was silent for a moment longer, then he suddenly said, "Tweek, are you jealous of Bebe?"
The blond couldn't answer, all he could do was stare at Craig as if he'd gone crazy. HOW DOES HE KNOW?! But Craig didn't even look at him, he just stared over Tweek's head, sucked in his cheeks and continued, "I don't know if you are, but I think you might be. To be honest, I was jealous of Clyde that first time he pulled you away from me." There was another extended moment of silence, during which Tweek tried to form words but simply failed.
"Maybe you already knew that," Craig admitted, tugging on a piece of inky black hair in lieu of not having his hat around. "But I don't think I really put it together." Why is he saying all of this?! WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?! Except even though he wanted to ask, Tweek didn't, because he wanted to hear more.
Craig, apparently, was more than willing to comply. "You know, I sort of knew that you were upset, but I kept hoping it would blow over, and it didn't." Needing to do something with his hands, Tweek grabbed for the anti-bacterial cream and started smearing it over Craig's injury with twitching fingers. "I'm just really shit at actually talking things out. And I think I started out with a good reason, but I lost it along the way."
"Ghn- Oh god you're not the only one who's -rrr- really bad at this!" Tweek quickly jumped in, struggling to get the gauze to stay put long enough so he could cover it with medical tape."I should have t-told you I was upset ages ago!" Finally succeeding, Tweek dropped the supplies back into the container before shutting it and pushed it off his bed, where it clattered, no doubt scrambling everything inside.
Craig made a sound like he wanted to say something, but then he took a deep breath instead and softly told Tweek, "It's all going to be over soon, I promise." Clearing his throat, the boy waited for Tweek's eyes to return to him before saying, "I know I'm shit with promises, but I mean it this time."
Brushing his hand over the bandage he'd just put in place, Tweek looked over the Noirette and twitched slightly before saying, "I -ngh- know you do." And he did, oddly enough, because even after everything, even after trying to tell himself that Craig Tucker was nothing but a liar, his heart knew that the boy really did care, and at the end of the day, that was what mattered.
"I haven't been talking to you," Craig admittedly haltingly, his voice growing unsteady. "Because I felt like I didn't have anything to show for myself. But I guess I'm a fucking wimp, because I couldn't stay away for long." As he stared at the boy, Tweek couldn't help but think that if coming back made Craig a wimp, then he was trash because he hadn't been able to last a day without needing his own mind to supply him with an imaginary image of the Noirette to keep him company.
Tugging Craig closer, Tweek gave into himself by wrapping the boy in a shivering hug. "Good," he mumbled, unsure what else to say. "I m-missed you."
Silence, then, "Okay." And everything fell into place as Craig wrapped his own arm around Tweek and pulled him onto the bed as well. After a bit of fussing, Tweek found himself cocooned in his covers with Craig, curled up against the Noirette and content, because this was something that he was used to. This was okay.
Funny, how it had taken getting abducted by aliens to actually sort stuff out.
But this was South Park, so really, was anyone surprised?
